page_title: UEFA Europa League
section_title: Current format
hierarchical_section_title: UEFA Europa League / Format / Current format
caption_attribution_description: English: UEFA members and Europa League group stage participation. (based on File:UEFA members Champs League group stage.png, itself based on Europe base map)
context_page_description: The UEFA Europa League is an annual football club competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions. It is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League.
  Previously called the UEFA Cup, the competition has been known as the UEFA Europa League since the 2009–10 season, following a change in format.
  In 1999, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was abolished and merged with the UEFA Cup. For the 2004–05 competition a group stage was added prior to the knockout phase. The 2009 re-branding included a merge with the UEFA Intertoto Cup, producing an enlarged competition format, with an expanded group stage and a change in qualifying criteria. The winner of the UEFA Europa League qualifies for the UEFA Super Cup and, since the 2014–15 season, the following season's UEFA Champions League, entering at the group stage.
  Spanish clubs have the highest number of victories, followed by England and Italy. The title has been won by 28 clubs, 13 of which have won it more than once.
context_section_description: In 2009–10 season, the competition was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League in a bid to increase the competition's profile. An extra 8 teams now qualify for the group stage consisting of 12 groups with four teams each (in a double round-robin), with teams finishing on the top two places in each group progressing. The competition then progresses in much the same way as the previous format, with four rounds of two-legged knockout rounds and a one-off final held at a neutral ground that meets UEFA's Category Four stadium criteria. The final is played in May, on the Wednesday ten days before the Champions League final.
  Qualification has changed significantly. Associations ranked 7–9 in the UEFA coefficients sent the cup winners and three (two since 2015–16 season) other teams to the UEFA Europa League qualification, all other nations sent a cup winner and two other teams, except Andorra and San Marino, who sent only a cup winner and a runner-up, and Liechtenstein, who sent only a cup winner. Since Gibraltar was accepted as a full UEFA member at the UEFA Congress held in London on 24 May 2013, their cup winner also qualified for Europa League. Usually, the other teams will be the next highest ranked clubs in each domestic league after those qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, but France and England will continue to use one spot for their league cup winners. With the abolition of the Intertoto Cup, all participants of the Europa League are qualified through domestic routes. Generally, the higher an association is ranked in the UEFA coefficients, the later its clubs start in the qualification. However, every team except for the title-holder (up to 2014–15 season) and the highest ranked teams (usually the cup winner and/or the best Europa League qualified team) from the top (six in 2012–15 seasons, 12 since 2015–16 season) associations had to play at least one qualification round.
  Apart from the teams mentioned, all teams eliminated in the Champions League preliminary round, qualifying rounds and play-off round are transferred to the Europa League. The 12 winners and the 12 runners-up in the group stage advanced to the knock out round, together with eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage.
  In 2014, the distribution was changed to broaden the appeal of the competition, namely through giving the Europa League champions a Champions League qualification berth, which has been used since. More teams automatically qualify for the group stage. If cup winners had already qualified for European competition through league performance, their place through the league is vacated and goes to the best ranked teams not qualified for European competition. This means that the cup runner-up is no longer qualified through the cup berth. These rules came into effect for the 2015–16 season.
caption: Map of UEFA countries whose teams reached the group stage of the UEFA Europa League   UEFA member country that has been represented in the group stage   UEFA member country that has not been represented in the group stage
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